[konafan]

I went to Holland for a week of lightweight cycle touring in Holland with a Brompton folding bike and Hennessy hammock tent. The weather was terrible! This is how barometric pressure was looking on my first day, it spells, cool, windy, rainy.



This is the hammock tent, very comfortable and light to travel with, not very warm. This was my complete camp, everything went into a Brompton front pannier and Ortlieb backpack.



The sun came out for a few hours and I sat beside the Rhine, watching the cargo barges that pass every few minutes.



For the bike geeks here, this pic shows a detour I made, to see the European hq of Shimano Corporation in Nunspeet, how very cool to work for Shimano:



I enjoyed my trip and the cycle infrastructure of the Netherlands is fantastic, I would do it again hoping for better weather next time. For this trip I spent lots of time in the coffee shop (coffee shop in the coffee sense, not the other ones that they have there

 

[brvheart]

Great post thanks for sharing!!!

 

[James142]

Sounds like fun. I'll have to do that one day. Thanks for sharing your trip and pics with us.

 

[Cobia]

Nice stuff bro, do you ride other types of bikes? i gather you do if your stopping off at the shimano factory.
Im a pretty keen down hill/freerider, ride a few santa cruz's and giants.
cheers

 

[computer_freak]

It's nice to see a Brompton being used for something besides blocking seats on the train (Dutch members will understand this).

 

[raceclawt]

Cool pictures,Konafan!

 

[Sjors]

Tomorrow will be a good day for cycling. I plan to go early to my work, so I go for a small bicycle round after work. In what direction are you planning to travel. I'm located in the South West (might have a little free time in the weekend).

Cheers,

Sjors

 

[pIonEerOFtHeNiLe]

always wanted the green military riseman. price keep coming down on them and the anniversary edition.,,should be able to get a new japan version for 250 sooner than later...places have discounted them to around 200 dollars and the japanese sellers been buying them up..

the rangeman is burying this model and driving the price way down..i really wonder how low they will go. but nobody is really paying 3 bills for them

 

[De smid]

it would be a shame if u visited the netherlands without a descent amount of rain....u just wouldn't get that dutch feeling.
hope u felt welcome though!

 

[konafan]

Tomorrow will be a good day for cycling. I plan to go early to my work, so I go for a small bicycle round after work. In what direction are you planning to travel. I'm located in the South West (might have a little free time in the weekend).

Cheers,

Sjors

Thanks Sjors, that would have been great, but I'm back in the UK now. Actually, when I was planning my trip I thought about your post from 50 Gs, riding through the sand dunes with the yellow 7900. My plan was to go north from Hook of Holland along the north sea route, see the sand dunes on that coast, but it didn't happen. Never mind, another time, some good riding you have over there.

 

[konafan]

Nice stuff bro, do you ride other types of bikes? i gather you do if your stopping off at the shimano factory.
Im a pretty keen down hill/freerider, ride a few santa cruz's and giants.
cheers

Hey buddy, yeah, I ride xc mtb, but only xc and a bit retro. When I was living in Sydney I had a steel hardtail singlespeed, used to take it up to the Oaks trail in the Blue Mountains - not the best bike for the terrain but still fun.

 

[konafan]

it would be a shame if u visited the netherlands without a descent amount of rain....u just wouldn't get that dutch feeling.
hope u felt welcome though!

Welcome for sure - and I've never seen so many people on bikes. I thought that about Copenhagen, but I think Netherlands must be the no 1 bicycle country.

 

[Sjors]

Ah, too bad. The dunes in the article are on Walcheren. They are (relative) very hight (up to 74 meters above sea level) and appear mostly in a single row. In the north the dunes are quiet lower and the the dunes are much wider. At the last two days you would not have been happy here. Two days of continuos rain, but tomorrow it's going to be good weather. This weekend was also relative good weather. I did a nice tour over North Beveland wint my girlfriend. I have posted some photo's on my weblog:

North Beveland

Let me know when you are in the neighborhood next time. I live in one of the most beautiful parts of my country.



Cheers,

Sjors

 

[gripmaster]

nice photo report and a funny looking bike! thats brave sleeping outside like this in THIS summer! you would have had terrible weather in most of Europe I think, the rains just seem to be hardly interrupted at all lately.... Good job spotting SHIMANO!

 

[Cobia]

Hey buddy, yeah, I ride xc mtb, but only xc and a bit retro. When I was living in Sydney I had a steel hardtail singlespeed, used to take it up to the Oaks trail in the Blue Mountains - not the best bike for the terrain but still fun.

Nice bro, lol ive only just noticed your name konafan, i gather you had a kona, very popular DJ bikes, built like a tank, the oaks is a good fun ride, nice one, cheers

 

[Sjors]

nice photo report and a funny looking bike! thats brave sleeping outside like this in THIS summer! you would have had terrible weather in most of Europe I think, the rains just seem to be hardly interrupted at all lately.... Good job spotting SHIMANO!

Well, look outside. It stopped raining last night and there's the sun. I have already charged my HRM/GPS so I can go out for a ride after work.



By the way, you won't only find Shimano in our small country. We have also a big Giant factory and a Koga Miyata factory. A remarkable factory is the Jan Janssen. Gikes are individually build to match you. And yes, Jan Janssen (1940) is still riding on his bikes several days a week.


Cheers,

Sjors

 

[OhDark30]

Hi konafan, thanks for sharing!
I also have a Hennessy, a folder and a yen for Dutch bike infrastructure: haven't combined them yet though. Inspiring to see your trip
My outdoor watch setup is this

yes, I'm a gram weeny ultralighter
Not needing much of an altimeter for Holland, baro I'll study the clouds, compass, I'm considering one of these in addition (for bike stem cap)

Better luck with the weather next time!

 

[Sjors]

We have some bumps at the coast ;-)

It stops at 75 meters I believe. Highest point you can come on foot/bike is about 55 meter, as shown in my video. But frankly, inland dikes of 4 - 5 meter are already considdered high here :-d

Cheers,

Sjors

 

[Iyonk]

Hi konafan, thanks for sharing!
I also have a Hennessy, a folder and a yen for Dutch bike infrastructure: haven't combined them yet though. Inspiring to see your trip
My outdoor watch setup is this

yes, I'm a gram weeny ultralighter
Not needing much of an altimeter for Holland, baro I'll study the clouds, compass, I'm considering one of these in addition (for bike stem cap)

Better luck with the weather next time!

Great to see you hang out in this forum OD30!!! =)

and thanks for sharing some great picts in this thread everybody... i live in SE Asia, so its great to see other culture and weather... thank you all!

 

[Deepsea_dweller]

Love it.. Brilliant post. Thanks for sharing